Exxon Mobil going for double-hulls

Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp. said it would replace its Alaska fleet of single-hull oil tankers with double-hull vessels. The US energy company will first buy and refurbish two ageing double-hull tankers now shipping crude oil for BP. The tankers, the ?Kenai? and the ?Tonsina?, will be overhauled in a Singapore shipyard. Exxon Mobil’s shipping subsidiary, Houston-based SeaRiver Maritime Inc., is running four single-hulled tankers between Valdez and West Coast refineries.

Exxon Mobil, along with the other major oil companies in Alaska including Irving, ConocoPhillips and BP, must comply with a federal law requiring that oil tankers be double-hull by 2015 to reduce the size of potential spills. Many ships now in service have earlier expiration dates.

SeaRiver spokesman Ray Botto said the purchase of the BP ships is an interim step in a broader plan that may include building new, double-hull tankers. Exxon Mobil is trailing Conoco and BP, which together are spending about $2 billion to build double-hull tankers. Since 2001, Conoco has put four such ships into service and BP two, with both companies expecting more new tankers in coming months.